Obama: Sure, I go skeet shooting all the time

posted at 9:31 am on January 28, 2013 by Allahpundit

I know you’ve seen this at Drudge, appropriately posted beneath a photo of the Hopenchange crew cracking up in laughter, but some panders are so shameless and comically implausible that they must be commemorated in a post. (Unfortunately, politicians’ need to ingratiate themselves with gun owners has been known to lead to this sort of thing.)

To believe this, you need to believe that O splits sharply from most ivory-tower liberals when it comes to recreational shooting. How likely is that? In what other ways, based on what we know about him personally and politically, does he stray from the path of the stereotypical left-wing intellectual? The only one that pops to mind is that you’ll find him at church on Sunday morning very occasionally. Maybe that’s how it is with skeet shooting — a once-a-year lark, just to get “back in touch” with the people.

FF: Have you ever fired a gun?

Yes, in fact, up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time.

FF: The whole family?

Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake.

Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. And if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were ten, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became part of your family’s traditions, you can see why you’d be pretty protective of that.

So it’s trying to bridge those gaps that I think is going to be part of the biggest task over the next several months. And that means that advocates of gun control have to do a little more listening than they do sometimes.

Hunting has very little to do with the Second Amendment but it’s an evergreen rhetorical sop to rural voters (many of whom live in purple states) whenever Democrats start getting grabby about guns. Clinton mentioned it the other day in warning Democrats not to condescend to their opponents, moments before he said of rural gun owners, “A lot of these people … all they’ve got is their hunting and their fishing.” Obama’s been talking up the glories of hunting since 2008 at least; he celebrated it again in the opening to his speech two weeks ago before launching into an explanation of why he needs to take executive action on guns. Listening to a liberal defend hunting is like watching a volcano start to smoke: You know what’s coming, and it won’t be good. But hey — if your concept of self-defense extends no further than long rifles or shotguns, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Continue to cling bitterly to them as needed.

The dirty little secret being obscured by O’s ode to the joys of hunting skeet is that the White House is slowly easing off a bit on the big gun-control push. OFA chose Friday afternoon, when most people are tuning out of politics for the weekend, to send an e-mail urging supporters to start calling congressional offices and pressuring them on guns. This morning, Democratic sources are grumbling to BuzzFeed that gun control may end up being to Obama’s second term what Social Security privatization was to Bush’s. Quote:

On Capitol Hill, the perception among many is that Obama has essentially written them off when it comes to gun control.

“No, they’re not talking to anybody,” a second Democratic aide said, adding “Maybe, maybe they can get something on background checks” through the House and Senate.

That’s the White House’s new plan. Focus on universal background checks, which are popular across the board in polling, as something that really might pass Congress and then try, try, try to hold as many Democrats together as possible on more aggressive doomed-to-fail stuff like the assault weapons ban. If they can at least manage a near-party line vote, then they can blame gun control’s failure on the GOP and hope that the public is peeved about that in 2014. Aside from background checks, it’s all kabuki.

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Part of being able to move this forward is understanding the reality of guns in urban areas are very different from the realities of guns in rural areas. And if you grew up and your dad gave you a hunting rifle when you were ten, and you went out and spent the day with him and your uncles, and that became part of your family’s traditions, you can see why you’d be pretty protective of that.

So urban dads never took their kids out hunting? Me and my Dad would like to disagree.

I would pay big money to see Bark shoot skeet; you thought his baseball-throwing ability was laughable.

I don’t buy it at all. Barky would have had the White House photographer put together a centerfold of him with a 12 gauge for Field & Stream if he didn’t have such a disdainful attitude toward gun rights. The Blue Dogs in OH, PA, WV, NC, etc. would have been all over it in November.

I find it hard to believe that there is not a single, publicly available photo of him skeet shooting if in fact he did do so.

What he should have said is the American life in urban areas is very different than the American life in rural areas. It is this difference that is at the core of the problems we currently have in this country. City Slickers vs Country folks. Life in the city makes one soft, any “hunter gatherer” instinct we still have in our genetics is completely lost on the urban lifestyle. If it snows 2 feet, you walk a block or two at most to get staples. For those of us in the country, if we don’t have the staples coming from our own backyard, we have to trek miles to get them or do without. My opinion is that almost every social issue we are currently grappling with in this country is because of the differences between urban living and rural living. Not that there aren’t good conservative people living in cities, and a number of lib/dims/socialists living in rural America, BUT the urban lifestyle just does not promote the type of lifestyle that agrees with conservatism. I encourage folks to look at our problems from this perspective and see if you agree.

I don’t believe it for a second. If skeet are being shot while he’s up there, I’d bet he’s nowhere the recreational activity that *other* people are doing. I’d bet further that it’s not occurring because the noise would be troubling to the Mooch and the spawn, if not to Obama’s big sensitive ears.

Not the girls, but oftentimes guests of mine go up there. And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back in this country for generations. And I think those who dismiss that out of hand make a big mistake.

Shooting skeet is not hunting, Mr. Prezzy, just like you shooting hoops is not basketball. First of all, I don’t believe a word out of his mouth about this. Registration is not required by the constitution to keep and bear arms. There are over 22,000 gun laws on the books and the few more being proposed now won’t keep anyone any safer. An AR can be used for hunting. It’s not designed for that purpose, but it is an easy gun to shoot.

I encourage folks to look at our problems from this perspective and see if you agree.

rayvet on January 28, 2013 at 9:47 AM

After being a city boy all my life, with about 15 years also living in a rural PA town, I agree with you. Never thought of the differences so succinctly, but you’re right. Most city people would experience ‘culture shock’ to see a sign advertising the nearest (and only) McDonald’s is “13 miles this way —–>”

I don’t buy it at all. Barky would have had the White House photographer put together a centerfold of him with a 12 gauge for Field & Stream if he didn’t have such a disdainful attitude toward gun rights. The Blue Dogs in OH, PA, WV, NC, etc. would have been all over it in November.

I find it hard to believe that there is not a single, publicly available photo of him skeet shooting if in fact he did do so.

Exactly, we would have photos coming out of our backsides if this was true. Photos of a smiling Obama with his high dollar over under telling everyone how much better he is than anyone else and could have been on the Olympic trap team, if he wasn’t just do damn good at being president.

If he really wanted to bridge the gap between urban and rural he would leave us the f alone and let the states decide what is best for the people. But no, he knows better than anyone what is best for all of us.

Obama has studied the British model of gun confiscation via Alinksy and Sun Tzu: divide the opposition (“we liberals have no problem with shotguns used for hunting, and we hope reasonable sportsmen see the need for sensible gun control”), polarize the isolated target (“the NRA are extremists and assault rifles are eeeeeeeevil”), and then destroy the opposition piece by piece.

In the UK, pistol owners, long gunners, and hunters were told their weapons were not to be targeted, and each group let the one before them be disarmed. Now the right to self-defense is almost literally non-existent in Great Britain, as is the right to bear any sort of firearm for that purpose.

The progressives are playing the same long game here. First discredit the NRA and outlaw “assault rifles”. Pistols will be next. Then all non-single shot rifles and shotguns will be outlawed. Loose-lipped leftists at the D a i l y K o s and elsewhere have outlined just this long-term plan, including a gradual discrediting of hunting.

Check out Drudge. Heh heh. He’s going hard at the “Dude, everyone knows you’re gay” narrative today. I read somewhere awhile back that Drudge has some pretty good evidence on Zero’s…ummm…preferred recreational couplings, so from time to time he likes to taunt Zero with it. Heh heh.

Obama has studied the British model of gun confiscation via Alinksy and Sun Tzu: divide the opposition (“we liberals have no problem with shotguns used for hunting, and we hope reasonable sportsmen see the need for sensible gun control”), polarize the isolated target (“the NRA are extremists and assault rifles are eeeeeeeevil”), and then destroy the opposition piece by piece.

In the UK, pistol owners, long gunners, and hunters were told their weapons were not to be targeted, and each group let the one before them be disarmed. Now the right to self-defense is almost literally non-existent in Great Britain, as is the right to bear any sort of firearm for that purpose.

The progressives are playing the same long game here. First discredit the NRA and outlaw “assault rifles”. Pistols will be next. Then all non-single shot rifles and shotguns will be outlawed. Loose-lipped leftists at the D a i l y K o s and elsewhere have outlined just this long-term plan, including a gradual discrediting of hunting.

Allah, you should have evidence before calling our President a liar. Just sayin’

nonpartisan on January 28, 2013 at 9:58 AM

Obarky’s left-wing lapdog media has published photos and sotries on pretty EVERY golf outing Obarky has made, as well as his beach outings, basketball, and everything else he does.
Why have there been NO NADA NONE ZERO stories up to now about his skeet killings?

Obama’s army was out this weekend. Me and a buddy both live in Al Green’s district, which is next door to Sheila Jackson Lee’s. He answered his door yesterday to a black couple wanting to share God’s word on gun ownership. He patiently listened to them for a minute or so and then politely unloaded on them his perspective. He had attended a 10 hour CHL class the day before.

When he mentioned Sandy Hook in the same sentence as all the minority shootings that go unreported in Houston he heard the girl say “and Chicago too”. He thinks he may have turned them around.

“Maybe, maybe they can get something on background checks” through the House and Senate.

First will be this because people are to dumb to understand what it means. Then they will ease in the mental health angle and guns will be basically banned because nobody but government officials and law enforcement will be demeaned mentally healthy enough to have a firearm. All they will need is a panel of mental health lackeys to have a consensus with other countries that just wanting a firearm in this day and age is a sign of a mentally unstable person.